GOOGLE’S CONTRACTORS DEMAND HIGHER WAGES AND EQUAL BENEFITS

Last month, we saw the Google employee walkout to protest the company’s response to sexual harassment and demand that the company address rising concerns about workplace inequality.

Now, we have a Google’s “shadow workforce,” which is internally known as temps, vendors and contractors (TVC), who have a demand. They wrote an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai seeking higher wages and benefits, equal to the company full-time employees.

The letter was published on Medium by the profile ‘Google Walkout For Real Change.’ Read the full text of the letter here.

According to the letter, the company has been hiring more TVCs than full-time employees for all types of roles. “We do essential work, from marketing to running engineering teams, to feeding you and the rest of the Google staff — all without fair benefits or recognition. Google cannot function without us,” the letter says.

Two things have specifically been demanded in the letter.

The first demand is for better pay and access to benefits that meet the full-time employee standard, including high-quality healthcare, paid vacations, paid sick days, holiday pay, family leave and bonuses.

The other includes access to company-wide information just like the full-time employees, like access to town hall discussions; all communications about safety, discrimination and sexual misconduct and more.

The letter goes on to say that the TVCs “continue to be mistreated and ignored if we stay silent. Google has the power — and the money — to ensure that we are treated equitably, with respect and dignity.”

Let’s see how Google responds to that.

Google employees across the world staged a walkout on 1 November, to protest the company’s handling of the alleged sexual misconduct charges against big names in Google. Employees from Google offices across Zurich, Dublin, Singapore, London, Hyderabad, New York, Atlanta, Australia participated in this protest. According to an employee group, Google Walkout For Real Change, around 47 offices across the world participated in the walkout.

We all know that Google employees have protested several times in the past. For example, the employees had once expressed their anger at Google’s efforts to get back into China by compromising on its values or trying to let the US Department of Defence use Google’s artificial intelligence, among other things.